The US Fish and wildlife Service said that it has started its investigation into the case of death of 25 Pacific walrus that are found on an isolated northwest Alaska beach. The animals were first spotted by a person connected to an Air Force radar station.

Andrea Madeiros of US Fish and Wildlife said they received an email from a public member with some photos attached to it describing the exact what they have seen. The man who first spotted the carcasses notified the agency this week.

The cause of the death of these animals has not been known, but the federal agency officially launched an investigation into the deaths Friday afternoon. Investigators were sent to the site Thursday and have been collecting data for the past two days.

The investors reported that some of the animals were headless and nearly 12 of them were babies. Gus Gillespie of Alaska Fur Exchange has been selling walrus ivory since 1986. He showed us some of his older pieces, said Madeiros.

Gillespie says he got them before regulations changed. Since The Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, only natives can sell walrus tusks, and only in the form of native handicrafts.

US Fish and Wildlife said they want to be very careful before landing on to any conclusions. “We had report a couple of weeks ago where somebody suspected there had been illegal take. Once we got law enforcement on ground to look at that, it turned out not to be the case. It was a natural mortality”, said Madeiros.